I spent a bit of time over the summer trawling the trade shows in search of ‘the’ fabric. Yesterday I went to Premiere Vision in Paris and, at the moment, am still mostly happy to be alive. After a brutal 3.45am start, I then got on a plane which regularly dropped out of the sky as it tried to take on storm Ali. I was convinced Ali was winning. When we finally touched down, my fear and nausea subsided for a split second before I realised I was going to be flying back through an even angrier Ali that evening; I seriously considered getting a bus back to Edinburgh! Anyway, after over an hour waiting to get through passport control, (and this is before Brexit!) I was finally on my way. Over the course of the day and combined with the London shows, I think I have identified every single producer of UPF 50+ fabric on the planet.
Here’s what I’ve learnt:
Number of factories making UPF 50+ fabric - Not many.
Number of factories making UPF 50+ fabric which is soft, light and comfortable to wear - even fewer.
Number of factories making UPF 50+ fabric which is soft, light and comfortable to wear without the use of chemical finishing - hardly any.
Number of factories making UPF 50+ fabric which is soft, light and comfortable to wear without the use of chemical finishing and using sustainable yarn = most people usually start laughing at this point!
So, that has been my biggest challenge. I feel like a plane fighting a storm sometimes and that I’m dropping out of the sky. But I am a dog with a bone on a plane fighting a storm. If anyone could provide me with a picture of this, it would make my day.